The Riders
by Kendarath
Summary: Yey for yaoi! Beware, do not read if you are not interested in boyboy romance. Kopaka releases a new set of enemies, stronger than anything the Toa have ever faced before. The Toa must be true to themselves and each other to find a way to defeat them.
1. Release

Hey there, potential readers. I haven't started a story in so long it's crazy… Well, before we get on with the story, I have to let you all know that this story contains yaoi (aka slash, shonen-ai) which in plain English is boy/boy romance. You have been warned. Any flames shall be used to roast marshmallows or other such delicacies. And if I feel the need I shall respond to your flames. Also, this story's rated R for future violence. Well, that and the yaoi.

Also, also (wic, lol, Monty Python joke there) this story takes place with my human-esque Toa and characters and such… I'll link you to pictures of the characters as they show up in the story. ^^

*twitch twitch* well, I can't seem to figure out how to put a link in the bloody story, so y'all'll have to go through the link I put in the reviews…

I would like to dedicate this chapter to Koolsnowball, who is always telling me, "Write Dammit!"

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Chapter One.

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Flt.

Leaves fell to the ground in the clearing. The tall warrior whirled around to face the place where the sound came from.

"Too slow!" called a voice just before the warrior was knocked to the ground and pinned.

"One," said another voice calmly from one side, "two." The pinned warrior struggled fiercely until the voice said with finality, "three."

"Arg! You beat me!" the pinned warrior complained as his attacker got off him.

"Wow! Lewa, you've sure improved!" Onua said as he thumped Lewa on the back.

"Ach!" exclaimed Lewa as he fell to the ground, knocking down Tahu again.

"Whoops," was Onua's comment as the two Toa clambered to their feet.

"That _was_ sweet though Lewa," was Pohatu's comment as he put his arm around Lewa's neck and proceeded to noogie him.

"Gyaah!" Lewa complained, struggling to free himself.

The other Toa laughed, all except for the one who had counted Tahu down. Kopaka stood on the edge of the clearing and watched as the other Toa fooled around. 

The white Toa sighed, "I thought we were supposed to be training," he muttered.

"Oh lighten up Kopaka," Gali said, "A little fun now and then might do you some good."

"Whoop-dee-doo, Lewa kicked Tahu's ass, let's throw a party," Kopaka said sarcastically.

Gali sighed, rolled her eyes, and walked away from the icy Toa, "Men," she muttered, "I'll never understand them."

"This is a waste of time," Kopaka muttered, turning away from the clearing and walking off towards Ko-Koro.

* ^ * ^ * ^ * ^ *

Kopaka crunched through the snow near the base of Mount Ihu, looking more at his feet than where he was going. He couldn't get the image of the Toa crowded around Lewa congratulating him, out of his head. He shook his head, "What's wrong with me?" he muttered.

A rumbling brought Kopaka's attention up from his feet to the side of the mountain. "Shit," he muttered, "avalanche. Just what I don't want." Removing his sword from its sheath he pointed it in the direction of the avalanche. Taking a deep breath the Toa of Ice pushed power through his sword. The avalanche slowly split in front of him, sliding to either side. A small smile came to his face as the snow and ice rushed past him. When the avalanche had finally passed by him Kopaka replaced his sword back in its sheath with a _shk_ and continued his journey up the mountain.

Suddenly he stopped, looking to his right. Kopaka was staring at a cave.

"That wasn't there this morning," he murmured, changing his course and heading for the cave.

Reaching it, the white Toa again took his sword in hand, but this time he also took his shield in his left. Taking a deep breath Kopaka stepped into the cave. He paused just inside the entrance to allow his eyes to adjust.

Kopaka stepped further inside, holding his shield in front of him and going slowly. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Kopaka entered a huge, dimly lit space.

__

Tooooa. Kopaka looked around quickly, going into a defensive position.

"Who's there?" he demanded.

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Tooooa.

"Who is it!"

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Koooopaaaakaaaa.

"Who are you!" the Toa yelled again.

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We aaaare what we aaaare. Shadowy figures appeared at the back of the cave.

Kopaka frowned, taking a step forward, "What do you want?" he asked.

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We waaaant to heeeelp.

Kopaka took another step, "Help who?" he asked suspiciously.

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Heeeelp our Maaaaster. Maaaakuuuutaaaa impriiiisoned us heeeere. Loooong agooo.

"Makutua?" Kopaka exclaimed.

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Yeeees.

"Why would Makuta do that?" he pondered, taking another step forward.

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Weeee endaaaangered his plaaaans.

Kopaka now stood about three bios away from the six shadowy shapes, "So you were the heroes before the Toa?"

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You couuuuld say thaaaat.

Kopaka paused for a moment, regarding the shadows; "Can I free you?"

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Juuuust take another steeeep.

Kopaka took a breath and took another step forward.

His hair was blown away from his face and he nearly had to take a step backwards to maintain his balance as six black shapes hurtled by him.

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Thaaaank yoooou, guuuulable foooool.

"What!" exclaimed Kopaka.

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And noooow we kiiiil you.

Kopaka raised his shield in defense, just before the shadows ran into it, sending him crashing to the ground and into unconsciousness.

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There you have it. Chapter One. No yaoi yet. And no, I'm not telling you who it is until it shows up ^^ I'm just a cruel, cruel bitch… But feel free to guess! ^^ (I'll even give you a cookie if you guess the paring(s)^^)

R&R!


	2. The Shadows

Lookie that. Chapter two. Already. ^^ (A/N: *coughs* well, it was already when I'd done it…) I'm so proud of myself. And I come bearing images! ^^ We have… Tahu, Lewa, Gali, Nuju, good pictures of Onua and Pohatu and Kopaka in colour! ^^ why no I didn't go on a drawing spree when I should have been doing homework/sleeping, why ever would you think something like that? (A/N again: *coughs again* and looking back on those pictures… they suck. So no pictures right now… but yeah… soon.)

As I forgot to do this in the last chapter: I do not own Bionicle. They are merely my playthings. Though I do own their human designs and the Riders.

I want to dedicate this chapter to Green Devil, for proving that there —are— other people who see the yaoi…

Chapter Two

Kopaka awoke with a groan a few hours later to a face-full of snow. Heaving himself out of the mushy snow Kopaka was faced with an astonishing sight. He was about twenty meters away from the cave, which was now surrounded by about fifteen meters of bare rock, followed with about six meters of mushy, half-melted snow.

As Kopaka slowly took this all in, only one word came to mind: "Fu-uck…"

Kopaka looked around for his sword and shield. He found his sword about three feet to his left and his shield around ten feet behind him. When he saw his shield he raised his eyebrows in surprise. The shield was cracked down the middle and was covered by a black film that stuck to it and wouldn't come off when he tried to rub it off. "Hmn…" was his only comment as he ran his fingers along the crack.

Kopaka finally hefted the shield onto his back with his sword and began up the mountain to Ko-Koro.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was a normal day for Turaga Nuju. He'd spent the majority of the day reading the wall and helping the Ko-Matoran with their problems.

It was a nice day, the sun was out, something rather unusual for Ko-Koro, and the Matoran were in good spirits. Until Kopaka entered the village. He was covered in a filmy black substance that got thicker in a circle on his chest. Sort of as if something round and black had hit his chest and exploded into the film that covered him.

Kopaka stalked into Nuju's hut and threw his shield onto the small table. Nuju and Matoro whirled around to look at Kopaka at the clatter. "We have a problem," he informed his Turaga.

"_I would say so_," Nuju said coming to have a closer look at the damaged shield.

"I w—"

"I know," Kopaka said, interrupting Matoro with a wave of his hand. The small Matoran looked put out by the curt dismissal and Kopaka felt slightly bad, but he shoved it aside for another time, this was more important than the feelings of one Matoran.

"_What happened?_" Nuju asked incredulously, running his hand over the crack. Kopaka looked pointedly at Matoro, then back at Nuju with a raised eyebrow. "_Leave us Matoro_," Nuju ordered his translator.

Matoro did as he was told but you could tell he was insulted by the fact that he had been dismissed so quickly by the leader and hero of the village. "_Now_," Nuju said, turning back to Kopaka when Matoro had closed the door behind him. "_What happened?_"

Kopaka cleared his throat self-consciously. "I may have, ah… released some Shadows…"

"_Shadows?_"

"Yeah… in this cave… on the side of the mountain…"

"_The Riders…_" breathed Nuju before running to a section of the wall, mouthing the words to himself as he read them.

"Well that just makes me feel so much better," Kopaka murmured sarcastically.

"_Shush,_" Nuju ordered. Kopaka fell into silence, leaning against the wall, absently rubbing his shield in an attempt to get some of the film off.

Nearly two hours later Nuju stepped back from the wall. Kopaka looked up from his absent rubbing, which had had no effect. "So, how screwed are we?" Kopaka asked flatly.

"_Very_," Nuju informed him, which caused Kopaka to raise an eyebrow, that wasn't the answer he'd expected. "_The Riders are unlike any enemy you have every faced before. They are stronger and more evil than anything you could imagine._"

"Mn…" Kopaka said thoughtfully. "Isn't that what you say _every_ time we face a new enemy?"

Nuju sighed in annoyance, "_The Great Beings had problems defeating them. And even then they couldn't destroy them, they could only imprison them._"

"Awuh?" was the only thing Kopaka could think of to say.

There was another frustrated sigh from the Turaga, "_The records are annoyingly vague. They only mention that it took the combined effort of several Great Beings to imprison them. There are no details as to what they are, or how the Great Beings finally defeated them._"

"So basically we're flying blind against an insanely strong enemy?"

"_On the bright side they've been captive a long time and are still in their corporeal form. It will take them some time to recover._"

"'Some time'? How long is that?"

"_I'd guess somewhere around a month._"

"Lovely."

"_I will send messages to the other Turaga. You should go to Onu-Koro to see if they can fix your shield._"

Kopaka nodded, "Alright then."

"_One more thing._" Kopaka paused in the doorway to look over his shoulder at Nuju, "_Your own emotions will be their greatest weapon against you if you do not come to terms with them._"

"I thou—"

"_One more thing,_" Nuju said, interrupting Kopaka, "_I would refrain from telling the other Toa that **you** released the Riders._"

"Well duh," Kopaka said in a tone that would have surprised the other Toa had they heard. Nuju was the only one who saw this side of Kopaka, the side that could say such a light-hearted comment without feeling self-conscious or out of place.

Nuju shook his head as Kopaka turned and left the hut before calling in Matoro to organize the messages to be sent to the Turaga. As he began to compose the letter, Nuju couldn't help but feel guilty for refraining from telling Kopaka _all_ the wall had said. But it would be better for the island if he found out on his own…


End file.
